152 comments

Why do you need drugs of any sort for a good time? Ecstasy is a great way to get a mental psychosis. Not quite as good as weed though.

Commenter

Amazed

Location

Warner

Date and time

March 13, 2013, 2:12AM

Drugs are bad

Commenter

AllAbbott'sFault

Date and time

March 13, 2013, 8:17AM

Or alcohol for that matter but no one seems to care about the damage that particular drug has done and will continue to do. And the best part, its totally legal and available on almost every corner. Thats where the logic ends. Theres no argument here, alcohol is just as damaging if not more so than any other illicit substance but its legal so people think its ok to be a drunk.

Commenter

Clarence

Date and time

March 13, 2013, 8:47AM

Big difference is that alcohol is regulated, quality controlled and taxed, so the medical system (supposedly) receives financial support for dealing with the consequences of alcohol for the minority of people who abuse booze.

Illicit drugs, on the other hand are not quality controlled, regulated or taxed. If it won't go away - at least put some regulation and tax on them so people won't be tempted for a $20 tablet of potentially dangerous E instead of a $100 bar tab. De-criminilising and regulating also suddenly puts the dodgy manufacturers, pushers and dealers out of a lucrative job.

I have never tried E or Coke, but prefer to see some form of control come in for those intent on letting Darwinism do its thing. Maybe revenue from taxing them could be spent on education and tips for safe consumption (I know no drug is safe in the wrong quantities, how about we educate on the consequences of overuse without pretending that one ecstacy tab can never be safe).

And there's really nothin else to say, drugs are just bad, mmm'kay?

Commenter

Nelson

Location

Brisbane

Date and time

March 13, 2013, 9:31AM

I've been an recreational user of cocaine, pot and ecstasy since I was 18 and I'm now 39. I own my own place in a very nice suburb in Sydney, and have held senior management positions in world renowned companies. During this time I have also completed a masters degree. Most of my friends are very successful business people who also still dabble in drugs. Drugs are fine in moderation - its doing them moderately that people struggle with.

Commenter

good times

Date and time

March 13, 2013, 9:46AM

As much as most people might not like to hear this history shows that drug use has been common for a very long time. It used to be a ritualistic event where communities would gather and drink and have a good time. Older native communities also did other things with witch doctors and shamen. Alcohol is the most damaging drug in our society at this point in time. It is also taxed to the eyeballs as one of the sin taxes. Tobacco is the next dangerous. It too is taxed to the eyeballs. I rarely drink and don't smoke however I take opiates every week. My doctor gives them to me in a regulated therapeutic prescription for problems that an emergency department missed many years ago. I don't enjoy taking them however they offer me a quality of life I haven't been able to live since I was a teenager. I would much rather eat marijuana for the same result with none of the heavily addictive qualities associated with opiates. Free up marijuana for medical purposes and start doing some real research. Most cases of psychosis blamed on marijuana have been linked to pre-existing conditions or other drug use such as Valium or halucinegenics.

Commenter

John Michaels

Date and time

March 13, 2013, 10:49AM

@John Michaels - well said. My family are from the south pacific and traditionally enjoy kava (Yaqona) at ceremonies. Pre-colonial contact the drug was restricted to certain parts of the community for regular usage, but it was heavily used in ritual, which is, of course, about transcendence. Post colonially speaking it has become part of everyone's ritualised life. I know of similar experiences amongst indigenous communities around the world.

Perhaps our evil little prohibitionists could focus on the ills bought about by the dehumanization of industrialised city-based living instead of locking people up or wagging their fingers at them?

Similarly, there seems to be a growing rumble in Australian culture regarding who gets how much of the health system resources before they pay extra, or worse, be denied access. This is a real illness worth writing of, the lack of empathy and compassion of the society upon which you are reliant upon to survive. This is people's response to both Labor and the Coalition's spineless under-resourcing of the health system at both State and Federal levels. Rather than hold our political class responsible for poor stewardship, and the diverting of public resources into private wealth, we blame smokers, drug users, fat people, the mentally ill, anyone but the people that do and can actually effect change upon the levels of resources made access to our community.

Interestingly this is the standard tactic for almost a century of the prohibitionists. Turn society against one another on moral grounds and let the witch burnings take care of the opposition. Occupy positions of public influence, and should you loose one battle (like alcohol did) switch focus (from alcohol to marijuana). Thanks go to the journalists contributing to their cause - can we move on to some actual problem solving soon?

Commenter

Ashar

Location

Brisbane

Date and time

March 13, 2013, 11:42AM

Let's change that comment slightly - Why does anyone need alcohol to have a good time? If you want to address a serious drug problem then the demon drink causes much more harm and damage to society than E ever could. Ecstasy is relatively benign and only heavy use (every weekend over a prolonged period) will have detrimental affects. Recreational use (once in a while) is safe.

Commenter

Stuart Maddison

Date and time

March 13, 2013, 12:46PM

@ AsharMethinks you protest a little too much. Not so dramatic. Recreational drug taking for so-named successful professionals is a bit of a joke. Druggies can get away with using for years sometimes unless they ingest from a bad batch. But you see it's all about the long-term effects which we often don't get to hear about because families cover up drug psychosis and its fallout as it is deeply socially-embarrassing.

There are plenty of those in permanent care in this country - including psychosis from extasy. It would be good to see some valid surveys around this - but unfortunately there ain't any. Maybe talk to people who work in mental health. They'll probably be happy to set you straight about this one.

Commenter

Peter

Location

Brisbane

Date and time

March 13, 2013, 3:49PM

This article illustrates very well why no grown-up debate about drugs has ever occurred in this country. Every time such a debate is attempted, rational analysis is overtaken by emotive propaganda (of which this article is a superb example).

The author purports to show how drugs ruin lives and uses a drug-using white-collar professional as an example. But she completely fails to show how "Andrew's" life was ruined by E and coke. Has he ended up chronically depressed? Has he lost his job? Has he ruined his previously good relationship? It seems that the answers are no, no and no. For all I can see, he is still a perfectly functional white-collar professional with a good job. But no matter. The author simply proceeds to scare the readers with words like "oblivion", "depression" and "paranoia". How is any of this relevant in "Andrew's" case? Sure, he *might* develop depression, for which drugs may or may not be the primary cause, but he hasn't yet, has he? This type of sophomoric journalism just makes me want to ask the author to please stop treating her readers as if they were imbeciles.

If you want to see real ruined lives, don't look at E - look no further than alcohol, a perfectly legal drug that is far more addictive than E and the cause of far more misery. And if you want to be taken seriously as a journalist, please don't resort to scare-tactic propaganda. Do a serious comparative analysis of the rates of addiction and harm in alcohol and E users. You know, it might even set you apart from that other paper that many SMH readers wouldn't be caught dead with.

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